W poszukiwaniu racjonalności ekonomicznej w dziełach Adama Smitha

• Authors: Krzysztof M. Turek

Title variants

EN

In search of the assumption of economic rationality in Adam Smith’s thought

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

In Adam Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations the term ‘rational’ occurs only twice. Neither of these uses assigns the property of rationality either to human beings or to economic agents. Despite that, Smith is widely recognised as the founder of modern mainstream economics, a science which is defined by the assumption of the rationality of an economic agent. This paper aims to locate and discuss the notion of rationality which is implied by Smith’s work. To achieve that a double-track approach is taken. First, the current paper reconstructs Smith’s general view on human nature which was presented mainly in his earlier book The Theory of Moral Sentiments. This is followed by a discussion of Smith’s theses on selected mechanisms which drive the economy as presented in The Wealth of Nations.

Keywords

PL

Adam Smith; Racjonalność

EN

Adam Smith; rationality; optimization; self-love; sympathy; invisible hand

• Publisher: Copernicus Center Press
• Journal: Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce
• Year: 2019
• Issue: 67
• Pages: 97-124

Dates

published

2019-11-18

Contributors

author

Krzysztof M. Turek